Letters

Fan of English History

I have been to Norwich several times, so I read the article about the city ("An Air of Antiquity in Norwich," May 19) with great interest.

As someone who loves English history and has studied Julian of Norwich, I disagree with the description of her as a hermit. She was an anchoress [one who lives apart from society for religious meditation] who lived in a small room attached to a church. One window of her room opened to the street, and Julian would have provided the medieval version of spiritual counseling to anyone who came to see her. She was hardly a hermit. Also, the church was not named for her. In all likelihood, she was named for the church.